Off Topic What inspired you to get good?

[Kristopher]

We all have our reasons for initially picking up a bass, but I'm wondering what it is that made you work on your craft for hours at a time? To where you wouldn't be satisfied until you had it down?

Is it your neighbor that played better than you? Did you want to be just like your idol, down to the last nuance? Was it a music teacher? Or maybe the bass's tone was so good, you just couldn't put it down?

I admit it, I'm lazy and I haven't put a lot of effort into the clips and videos I've recorded for public consumption. Recently I got some (deserved) negative feedback that hurt my ego a bit, which led to me sitting down with my bass and mp3 player for an hour straight trying to work out the finer points of my playing. In the end I'm thankful because it's motivating me to take an honest look at my bass skills and make the time for the needed improvements.

Anyway, I figure you guys might have some similar stories of instances that forced you to put in that extra effort.

 

[Psycho Ward]

I just wanted to impress chicks.

 

[Aussie Mark]

What Chuck said. Having the ability to keep chicks dancing is wonderful.

 

[scottbass71]

Get chicks - chuck is right

Also to be good enough to start a cowpilot tribute band

Seriously Just watching other bands both famous and non famous and wanting to play as good as them.

 

[RobertB]

For me it was/is ('cause I'm still working toward being "good") largely just keeping myself entertained & musically fulfilled, wanting to overcome the boredom you feel when you're in a "rut", and wanting to develop the freedom & familiarity to play with genuine expression.

After an initial period of high activity in bands, I started travelling for work until just the last few years, and so haven't played in a band in over 10 years. So during that period ... playing bass alone/in a vacuum, I've felt that you've GOTTA keep it entertaining for yourself, or you'll just put it down. It compelled me to develop the technique and musicality to write & play stuff in which the bass is the "feature instrument", for one thing (since it was just me & a drum machine, so the bass had to carry it), but mainly, as I said, to play expressively, and feel like I was really "saying" something.

And I'm not saying that requires technical wizardry - on bass or any other instrument. As bassists, I think it's our number 1 "job" to just make it groove ... be the glue factor and make the whole band sound better. And you can do that with a very minimalist approach, an "acrobatic" approach, or anything in between, as long as it grooves.

I admire you guys that're so active with bands & gigging/recording with other musicians - it's of course what it's all about, and there's no substitute for it, as far as developing real musicianship. I'm eager to get back into it. I've kept myself in a "gig-ready" state the last several years, equipment-wise, and it's time to actually do something again.

I must've edited this thing 10 times, but it trigerred some genuine reflection. Great question.

 

[mammoth]

i wanted to take over the world creating a dominant muti-national financial conglomerate.... but i couldn't be arsed so i picked up the bass to get chicks

 

[roscopeco2000]

for me and i expect alot of people 'there was a gap' we had 3 guitarist! a dummer but no bassit, so i just started from there. the more i played and enjoyed my instrument, i figured out that i had accidental found the right instrument for me.Looking back at the music i listened to alot beatles,rhcp,jamiroquai, its was very bass lead music so i had always been interested by the bass side of music although at the time i did understand what it was drawing me towards it.Ive never gigged, ive been playing about 2 years, so still waiting to take the next frightening gig stage.

 

[ausf]

I realized early on, impressing chicks and getting good had nothing to do with each other. Jumping around on a stage with a Rickenbacher hanging around your knees impresses chicks.

Then I got this idea in my head that I needed to be a better player. All that impressed was about two out of the ten people who happen to be in the Jazz clubs at any given time and they were usually friends I brought with me. On top of it, that was a lot of work and the only chicks that were there were dragged in by their musician boyfriends/husbands. They weren't impressed, they usually are yawning.

Now with wife, kids, etc. I only need to impress myself, no one else is really interested. If I can play what I hear on an album and sound tight and clean through a set of headphones, I'm in a good mood. If I get together to play with some guys, it's nice to hear a compliment, but that doesn't drive me.

 

[strummer]

i just wanted to impress chicks.

+1

 

[Kristopher]

I realized early on, impressing chicks and getting good had nothing to do with each other. Jumping around on a stage with a Rickenbacher hanging around your knees impresses chicks.

Agreed! It's been very easy for me to get by with very little effort and still get compliments after a gig. "Wow you guys were tight", "you're an awesome bass player", etc. There's always been a small part of me that knew the "truth", but that's easy to ignore when the compliments flow in. It's also easy to skip daily practice when you're never told that you need it.

I guess somewhere in this discussion there is an idea of a personal relationship with practicing. Some people pick up the bass only when they have to get the basics down well enough for band rehearsal, and some people truly enjoy time spent practicing. Practicing is about going through the steps of internalising and becoming familiar with material you don't know. It can be frustrating to some and rewarding to others. It's always been frustrating to me, but now I'm slowly finding ways to enjoy it turn it into a rewarding experience.

Funny how it all starts from nursing a bruised ego.

 

[Kirby]

I am a perfectionist in what I do so digging in came sort of natural. I just saw others who were better and knew I could do that if I just stopped using excuses and did the work. Even now, I am back studying with one of my old Berklee professors trying to achieve that next level. Then there will always be another level. Like I have always said this is a journey, not a destination. I just try to enjoy the road along the way. By the way, the girls were not a bad part of the gig too.

 

[adouglas]

Playing for people and getting a positive response are what did it for me.

The compliments you get after a good gig are like crack.

My current band had its first gig Saturday and I'm still buzzing from it. Naturally we tried to fill the place with our own friends and you can't believe what they say, but all the good words from the locals really felt great.

Chit, we were stealing patrons from other bars and even had the bartenders dancing!

And the most important thing....we booked another for next month.

 

[tkarter]

I'll let you know if I ever get good.

tk

 

[Oldtoe]

I prefer positive feedback to indifference.

 

[five7]

Playing with better musicians than yourself forces you to spend the needed time in the woodshed. You must push yourself in everything you do especially things you enjoy. Otherwise, what is the point.

 

[iamcatwarrior]

I had an interest in playing challenging music -- and still do -- and the things that I wanted to play and learn required that kind of discipline. I play in a straightforward rock 'n roll band right now, but my original goal was to write a progressive rock concept album adapted from an original story. (So far I have the story, or stories as it were, but not the additional musicians to make it go.) In the interim, I spend a lot of time at home coming up with connective phrases of music and writing lyrics about irregular subjects.

 

[HornetAMX]

Mark Adams, Verdine White, Hollis Melson, Kirkwood Coakley, Reggie McBride, Ray Griffin, Mel Schacher and Dee Murray among others. I still don't think I've improved as a bass player compared to when I was in my late teens early 20's. I was more adventurous back then. These players and their respective bands really got me into playing bass back in the mid to late 1970's.

 

[CFA]

Playing with better musicians than yourself forces you to spend the needed time in the woodshed. You must push yourself in everything you do especially things you enjoy. Otherwise, what is the point.

I made myself continually improve after creating a band with my friend (Guitarist/Drummer/Singer) And things would always turn into mini competitions (Sort of) over who could play/write the best things. "Competition" Is probably the wrong word, as it was all in good fun, "Look what I can do" "Yeah, well look what I can do" sorta stuff.

Anyways, we rehearsed in his woodshed, and since at that time he was probably not so much of a better musician, as a "rival"... But because of both the woodshed thing, and the musician part, I had to quote that post

 

[strummer]

I prefer positive feedback to indifference.

Well, you're my favourite bass player, 'k?

 

[oli@bass]

From the first time I listened to music by J.S. Bach, I was fascinated how the bass drives and controls the music. I wanted to be able to do that. To play and invent bass lines that command the music in this way. That was when I was around ten years old and took piano lessons. But listening to the Beatles during that time, and Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden in the following years -- all three bands motivated and controlled by a iconic bass player -- led me to the electric bass guitar.

The truth is: I wanted to become like them. A bass player. A composer. A rock star. An idol. A legend.


I'll never be there, but I still enjoy the ride when playing on stage, and every now and then I like a little bit of a challenge. So I started seriously playing on fretless this winter. And it gives me new perspectives of bass.